


When You Reach Out

by Niullum



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Family Dynamics, Gen, Good Bro Tim Drake, Good Sibling Tim Drake, Hurt Jason Todd, Hurt/Comfort, In which Jason realizes Tim is good kid, Injury, Sibling Bonding, Tim Drake Has Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27190376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niullum/pseuds/Niullum
Summary: Jason is injured and wakes up to find himself getting help from the person he least expected.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Comments: 18
Kudos: 295





	When You Reach Out

**Author's Note:**

> Huge shoutout to [Mizuphae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizuphae/pseuds/Mizuphae) for beta-ing and helping me so much with this story! ❤️

Jason woke up feeling like complete and utter shit. Well, shit was an understatement because he was having the biggest migraine of all time. His eyes felt heavy in their sockets and his mouth felt dry.

Opening his eyes was difficult, and keeping them wide was a whole other ordeal. It took a tremendous effort, but once he did, Jason winced at the blinding light. He rapidly blinked his eyes several times to get used to the lighting. Jason groaned quietly as he realized he was lying in a hospital bed with a medical monitor beeping repeatedly. What was strange was that he did not remember how he got there.

His memories were foggy and distant, as if someone had tampered with his brain and left him there to pick up the pieces all by himself. All he remembered was fighting someone and then… _nothing_.

There was something not making sense here.

With that in mind, Jason concluded it was time to go. Whoever brought him here knew who he was. The faster he would get out of there, the better. Jason tried to stand up but a sharp pain in his abdomen made him gasp and slump against the bed. He cursed under his breath. Jason took a deep breath and tried again but it brought a similar reaction.

It was on his third attempt that a sense of panic began to fill him. _Something was wrong with him._ He moved his arms and realized he couldn’t barely move his fingers. _Very wrong_ , his mind told him. Jason glanced down and found bandages all over his chest and abdomen.

Then he heard a door open and a pair of footsteps came towards him. His heart skipped a beat when the footsteps stopped. He glanced up and saw a dark and looming figure watching him.

And like all sensible vigilantes prone to paranoia, Jason's first reaction was to stuck his arms out to deck the stranger’s face. But in the process, something ripped. He grimaced as a yelp pierced his ears and something began to pour out of his aching arm.

A frantic _Shit!_ sounded in the room. Jason’s face contorted into a frown as he recognized the voice and exactly who it belonged to. It was none other than his Replacement who was still clutching Jason’s limp, bleeding arm, desperately searching for medical supplies.

He opened his mouth ready to sneer, but instead, all that came out was drool.

“Please don’t move,” the third Robin—Replacement, his mind hissed—begged. “I think you ripped it. And, oh shit, I think we ran out of gauze... Give me a second.” The voice turned into a nervous squeak when Jason tried to move your arm. ”Stop! Don’t move your arm!”

Jason watched his replacement flail and panic as he grabbed all the gauze he needed.

“Repla..?” Jason said and stopped when he also realized how weird his face felt. He licked his lips and tried again.

His mouth did not cooperate.

 _“Reeeeplaisman,”_ Jason tried to speak but the words came out slurred. He frowned, except he couldn’t feel where his eyebrows were. He opened his mouth, drool mixed with blood coming out of the corners of his mouth. “Why…?”

“Why, what?” Tim asked a second later and began ticking off all the possible options with the fingers on his left hand as the other pressed against his bleeding arm. “There’s a lot of things to ask, like why are you here? Why am I standing here? Why did you rip your I.V?”

 _What I.V?_ Jason wanted to ask. He had no recollection of having one in either of his arms. He glanced down. The sight of the needle discarded and laying on the floor was enough for his eyes to widen.

Jason gurgled out an abrupt but panicked ‘no’.

Tim offered him an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry about that,” Tim said as he patted his leg (or well, what Jason thought might be his leg) reassuringly. “Trust me, I hate it too but I don’t think you want to be conscious during surgery.”

Jason shook his head. He opened his mouth, despite how much effort it took for his mouth to move, and tried to get his point across. Instead of the _“No, get that shit out of my arm”_ Jason had been hoping to say, the only thing that came out was an indistinguishable _“nghhh.”_

The heart monitor noticed his distress and it started shrieking seconds later.

“Jason,” Tim said, his voice now full of concern as he laid a hand in Jason’s chest. “It will be okay. It’s just for a few hours. I have to perform surgery on you and-”

“Fuck,” Jason hissed as he felt the drugs kicking into his body. The fear began to bubble up inside him and he futilely thrashed to get the needle out of his vein. He was willing to endure the pain, rather than the numbness creeping in. He hated it. Despised it with every inch of his heart. It would always bring back the memories—roaming the streets of Gotham half-dead and looking for someone while feeling so _empty, void, lifeless, and **numb**_ —he swore to forget.

Jason didn’t want to go through that again.

“Ngghh, no.”

“I’ll be right here when you wake up,” Tim interrupted him, his eyes filled with worry as his hand rubbed Jason’s left palm. “Jason, look at me please.”

He struggled to lock eyes on him.

Tim offered him a smile.

“I promise you won’t wake up alone.” He held up a pinky, as the other hand kept doing those circular motions. “Pinky promise.”

_Promise?_

“Jay,” A strangled gasp left his mouth as his world slowly started darkening. “It will be okay, you hear me? I’ll be right here-”

* * *

The second time Jason woke up, Tim was seated right by his side, holding his hand in a faint grip. He took a closer look and winced at his pitiful state. Replacement looked like crap with dark circles under his eyes, rumpled hair tied up in a messy bun, and skin paler than the usual, making him seem worn out and drained.

And by the way his head was bobbing up and down, it was clear Replacement hadn’t slept at all. He moved his arms to verify if the anesthesia had worn off.

“You look like shit,” he said (or well, more like tried) groggily. Then he added, _“Replacement.”_

The other opened his eyes, wide awake, and alert in an instant. A knife appeared out of his sleeve, only to be tucked back in once Tim realized who was speaking. His eyes softened and lost that startled look.

The corner of his lips curled up in a smile.

“I’m glad you’re awake,” he breathed out in relief, one hand checking the I.V. before slumping to the chair. ”How was the nap?”

“Had better,” he said with a yawn. “How long was I out?”

Tim hummed. “Like fourteen hours. The surgery lasted five. They did quite the number on you,” Tim said, pointing out the wraps of bandages tightly compressing his abdomen and arm. “Hope you don’t get into any similar fights again. Don’t think my blood pressure can handle it next time.”

“That bad?” Jason asked.

“Not the worst I’ve ever seen, trust me. But you’ll have to later thank Dick for cleaning the scene,” Tim replied, swiping the sweat off his brow. He clapped his hands and continued, with a huff. “B freaked the hell out by the way. Screamed at me for ten minutes why I wasn’t at the manor with you.”

Jason blinked, still dazed by whatever concoction the Replacement had put in his system.

“Then,” he croaked out, fighting against the sleepiness, “why?”

“Figured you’d be more comfortable without B fussing over you,” Tim said with a shrug. “I know how overbearing he can be around you guys, especially when one is hurt.”

A small perceptible frown appeared on his face as the last phrase rang on his mind. Why would Replacement say that? Last time he checked the Bats were all playing one big, happy family.

It felt _wrong_.

“Why are you excluding yourself?”

Tim did a double-take.

“Huh?”

“Don’t play dumb, Replacement,” Jason said with a roll of his eyes. “You know what you said.”

“Things are okay! It’s-I mean,” he stammered out, then sighed. “It's complicated,” he said lamely.

Jason arched an eyebrow.

“More complicated than beaten to death by a lunatic clown?”

Tim flinched as if struck.

“My relationship with Bruce is _fine_ ,” Tim trailed off and looked away, his eyes going distant. “I know my place within the family.”

“What are you talking about-” Jason started but Tim cut him off mid-sentence.

“And I wanted to apologize,” Tim said, quickly changing the subject. Jason wanted to go back and inquire more, but the pleading face Tim threw at him made him stop. He let it pass.

Tim let a relieved sigh in return.

“Anyways, your medical history didn’t mention you had trypanophobia,” he said sheepishly. “I should have been more careful-”

“Needles don’t freak me out, Replacement,” Jason replied off with a vague hand gesture. ”It’s the feeling of anesthesia I don’t like.”

“Can I ask why?”

“It reminds me of...” He trailed off and swallowed. The words felt heavy on his tongue. He didn’t know how to say _when I was half-dead_ without _..._

He cleared his throat and swallowed down the lump.

“It reminds me-”

“I’m sorry,” Tim cut him softly, sparing Jason the headache of saying it. “I can’t imagine how it must feel. Jason, I swear I didn’t know-”

“Usually, I can handle it,” Jason lied, ignoring how the tiny voice inside his head screamed at him _liar!_ “At first I thought maybe it was a coincidence, you know? But the second time I went to Leslie’s... I didn’t react that well.”

 _How could he not remember it?_ Leslie’s frightened expression once the morphine kicked in, still haunted him. He’d trashed the whole emergency room and its equipment before fleeing, screaming at whoever stood in his way. It took _months_ for him to come back and apologize properly, filled with so much shame he must have looked like a dog with his tail behind his legs.

 _I forgive you_ , she’d said after he’d wrapped his arms around her elderly frame. He opened his mouth to speak but didn’t have the strength to continue as a sudden wave of exhaustion came and he stopped.

Jason felt tired. Exhausted of opening up his traumas and his soul to the last person (Replacement, of all people) he wanted to know, who was looking at him as if he'd just announced he'd be dying of cancer within the hour.

“Does Bruce know?”

The question threw him off.

“No. I,” Jason paused and then swallowed. “You’re the first to know. Apart from Leslie.”

“I’m sorry, Jason.”

“Can you imagine what would happen if the rest of the world knew? The infamous Red Hood, afraid of anesthesia,” Jason said and let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “Pathetic, don’t you think? Joker would have the time of his life-”

A hand touched his shoulder reassuringly.

“It’s not pathetic, Jason,” Tim said. “It’s completely understandable. I’m sorry you had to deal with this on your own, but I’m glad you trust me enough to tell me this.”

“Okay, stop it, Replacement,” Jason said, breaking eye contact. He hoped Tim wouldn’t see his blush. “Keep going and you’re going to make me like you.”

“I’m not sure whether I should feel offended or not by that,” Tim said with a chuckle before patting his arm. ”Tell you what, give me five minutes to order some delivery, and then you can keep talking about how you’ll always appreciate my wonderful existence from now on.”

“Changed my mind. Gonna keep hating you for that.”

“Okay,” Tim said with a smile, “Chinese, then.”

“Hey, Replacement?” Jason said just as Tim was about to open the door. He stopped, hands millimeters away from the doorknob.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

_For caring._

“For keeping me from bleeding out, I guess.”

Tim saluted him. “Any time.”

* * *

“So, let me get this straight,” Tim said hours later as they lounged in the living room, barely paying attention to the episode of Brooklyn 99 in the background. “You ended up like this,” he pointed at him with his chopsticks. “Because you decided to fight Killer Croc?”

“Uh-huh.”

Replacement crossed his arms and stared at him. He blew a strand of hair out of his eyes as Jason gulped down another dumpling.

“Alone with no backup?”

“Uh-huh.”

_“What were you thinking?”_

He shrugged, cursing softly when he dropped a bit of rice in the process.

“It was a bet.”

“A bet,” Tim deadpanned. “You’re telling you ended up with three broken ribs, a pierced lung, and a stab wound because of a bet?”

“I did some damage too,” Jason defended himself, slightly offended.

“I am—” Tim said and then stopped, clearly trying to not scream at him. He was somewhat failing, judging how hard his hands were clenching. “—very disappointed in you right now.”

And as Replacement started chastising him about safety and protection in the field, statistics, and health bills, Jason realized something.

Maybe Replacement wasn’t as bad as he thought, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all have a wonderful day/night! Please consider leaving a kudos and/or comment if you liked this ❤️


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